The Japanese Smart Cards

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Way too busy to waste any time, on-the-go commuters stream through Tokyo train stations, chatting on mobile phones, listening with disc-player earphones, and flicking "smart cards" instead of stopping to pull out tickets.

Although the technology is generally a novelty elsewhere, gadget-loving Japanese commuters have embraced the cards -- plastic embedded with a tiny computer chip, permitting payments without the hassle of coins or making change.

Here, the challenge is not getting people to use them, but figuring out how to expand the system for shopping, concert tickets and other electronic purchases.

Similar cards have been introduced or tested in Washington, D.C., France and Hong Kong, and in the United States by retail chains like Target and ExxonMobil.

But Tokyo commuters outdo them all: Some 5.6 million people -- or roughly half the possible users -- have the green-and-silver Suica cards introduced about a year ago by East Japan Railway Co.

Read the full article here